PipStop

I guess the question should really be, what do YOU look for?

It's been a couple of days since I returned from the Los Angeles Traders Expo, and I've been able to ponder a few things.

Without spilling the extensive thoughts in my head, I'll just share a few things, and end with some words of wisdom I heard in a particular session.

-----

- I had promised those in the office that I'd post pictures from the expo. I forgot my camera at home, and it's probably a good thing so I didn't look like a tourist while I was there.

- I was talking to an exhibitor about all the traders that attended the expo, and he mentioned it's not always easy to tell the difference for regular folk between the snake oil salesmen and the legitimate businesses. How true he was, and I observed it first hand. There were those there that were selling a story more than what will help people to become more successful traders.

- It was a great experience, and like another exhibitor told me, he was jealous that I was able to roam about from exhibit to exhibit and from session to session, while he stayed tied to his booth. He told me to enjoy it while it lasts as I'm sure Trading Post will have a booth of its own sometime down the road. For now, though, I am looking forward to being at the Las Vegas Traders Expo in September.

-----

I have many more thoughts that I'd like to share, but I'll keep this short, as I've pummeled all of you with long posts the last week.

I want to share a few points that Tom Sosnoff, the co-founder of online brokerage thinkorswim shared in a Thursday session, which matches the philosophy we have at Trading Post.

He asked the following questions and answered them below that (although my notes aren't perfect). And remember I'm not saying you have to do this, but it got me thinking and it should at the least get you thinking too:

What (markets) should we be looking at? What should we be trading?

1. You should be watching everything that moves and everything that interests you.
     A. Commodities such as oil, gold, interest rates, and US dollar
     B. Broad-based products including index futures
     C. Stocks you like
2. We should be trading all the time
     A. All gold products that have practical strategic opportunities
     B. Any combination of products that improve our skill level
     C. Any product that improves our technology skill set
     D. Any product that helps us trade better

He made the point that good traders by in large work harder at it and they trade more. The difference between the dreamers and the doers is the doing.

As I thought more about this, the following popped into my head.

If you put in a part-time commitment, you might be able to achieve part-time success.